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Esther Valverde
Professor Tripp
ENC 3417
19 February 2016
Visual Literacy
Visual images have been a big part in society for thousands of years and served many
purposes. Cavemen used drawings to teach people how to hunt. The Egyptians used
hieroglyphics as a way to communicate with one another. In eighteenth century England, people
used pictures to advertise their pub because most people could not read, but understood the
meaning of pictures. Finally in the 21st century, we have visual mediums everywhere we go, on
the computer, television, and in books. Photographs, symbols, and even charts are all forms of
visual literacy. Even in times where most people could not afford to get an education, they still
went about their day by decoding visuals. People have been visually literate since the first cave
drawings, yet some people still think the only definition of literacy is knowing how to read and
write.
The following narratives are examples of how people use visuals has part of their
literacies. We will explore the theme of visual literacy by discussing how visual examples can
help a person understand a story. Second, how visuals can help a person through their critical
thinking and organization. Finally, how visuals have influenced modern culture as a new form of
literacy.

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For certain people visual literacy was their first form of literacy. Daniel Lawson, an Ohio
State University professor, encountered his first form of literacy through reading comic book. He
mentioned that his parents would buy comic books for him and he would spend all day enjoying
reading the comic books. He would go through the panels knowing some words, but fully
understanding the story through the pictures being displayed. Later on, a colleague of his, whom
he mentioned was very intelligent, was reading through a comic book like style work and not
understanding what was going on. He helped her by explaining what was going on in the story
through the pictures and was in disbelief that she could not comprehend it. That is when he
discovered for himself that reading comic books, or reading its pictures, is a form of literacy
(Lawson, Comic Literacy).
Like the old Chinese saying a picture is worth a thousand words. Comic books give
readers a story without the animation of the television. Comic books need both the drawings and
the words in order for a person to understand the story as a whole, but they have certain panels
that contain only of drawings. From personal experiences, having a text-less panel makes the
scene more dramatic, or important because you see the emotion that character is feeling through
its face on the picture that words cannot describe. Depending what the author decides to put in
the wordless panel, most of the time it is important because you have to decipher what the author
is trying to say. From the article, Visual Rhetoric/Visual Literacy: Writing about Comic and
Graphic Novels, context is key since you often cant tell what a piece of text is doing on a page
without determining how it relates to the images it accompanies (Duke University p. 3)
Especially in comic books, and even childrens books, visuals are highly important to the story
line. Sometimes in a comic book, the visuals can be overwhelming in a single panel that readers
can get lost or confused, just like Daniel Lawsons colleague.

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A person must know how to read a comic book by the sequence, and also the culture of
where the comic book is created. For example, in Japan, the comic books are called manga, and
the way to read a manga is from right to left. Not knowing this can result in not understanding
the storyline and missing out on valuable information on the story. The mangas, depending on
the popularity, would turn into an anime, which is a cartoon television show in Japan. In order
for the producers and artist to understand the story, they must look at both the text and the visuals
of the manga carefully because certain mangas have specific creations. Not having the drawing
from the manga can create confusion, especially if producers are trying to make it a show
because there is little dialogue in a manga. For example, the anime One Piece was first a manga,
and with growing popularity it turned into an anime. The creator of One Piece manga also
overlooks the creation of the anime because everything he draws in the manga ties together to the
whole story.
Josh Mehler, a PhD student at Florida State University, was telling his story on how he
would go to his grandmothers house every Sunday and he would make her go through a western
art book and pick out her favorite words and make stories out of them. When he was asked about
the stories in the book, he mentioned what he remembered the most was the images. From the
western art book he moved on to reading comic books, even though he mentioned he was not a
reader, the pictures were what lured him into the comics that he would read over and over again.
From the comic books he would go on to play computer games and at that point he stated there
were so many visuals going on at the same time. The interviewer asked him a question if he was
a visual learner and he answered yes (Mehler, Visual Influences on My Literacy).
From basic encounters he had as a child, he developed his learning habits through visuals
from his past experiences. He would listen to his grandmother develop stories and creative

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through pictures in a book. The creativity of the authors who wrote the comic books would help
him develop deeper, possibly more complicated storylines or plots. Computer games would give
Mehler as a child, on their own and/or collaboratively, explore and negotiate risk, possibility,
identity and subjectivity in new and emerging virtual worlds (Walsh 25). By being exposed to
those possibilities early on in life it can also transfer to real world situation. By risk-taking,
Walsh means exploring different opportunities whether it is risky or not. Having a child being
exposed to risk-taking can lead him into risk-taking in high school and even in their careers;
which can lead to advancement.
From Mehlers story, and considering his past experiences, there is no doubt that Mehler
would become a visual learner. He stated, the visuals that he experienced as a child, would later
progress to words and text. There were times where people did not even progress to words, but
symbols. As I mentioned before, people that were not literate in the old days were not completely
illiterate. Being not able to read can be difficult, but in my advertising class, my professor
mentioned the way people would know the name of a pub would be by the pictures it had on the
banner. The pub could be called, for example, Three Pigs in Blanket and on the banner it would
literally show three pigs in a blanket (Principles of Advertising). Peoples first experience, or at
least one of the first, would be visual literacy considering historical facts, in my opinion.
Mehler never exactly explained how he uses visuals as a learning tool, other than as a
tool to create stories. Kristen Moore in her audio described the struggle she went through in her
college evolutionary biology class with little visuals. She mentioned she had a test she needed to
study for the next day and she had a difficult time understanding the concept. She mentioned it
was like a nightmare because the textbook was mostly text and the lecture was mostly text. She
already knew she was a visual learner and studying by just reading the text would not do her any

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justice. To study for the test she took down a poster that was mounted on her wall and started
drawing on the back of it the process of evolution, or whatever it was she was studying for. From
the pictures she understood the basic concept of evolution, but still managed to fail the exam
because her exam was not visual (Moore, Mapping Literacies).
Like Moore, there are many students that learn and grab concepts through visual
illustrations. According to Ingo Eilks et al. in A Critical Discussion of The Efficacy of Using
Visual Learning Aids, today learning as a whole and so learning with visualisations is generally
referred to a constructivist understanding of learning ( Eilk et al. 146). Perhaps having models,
diagrams, or even graphs can better help students that are taking science courses to fully
understand the process of either evolution or photosynthesis. Having a visual would enhance the
learning experience for visual learners because it shows exactly what the process is doing. For
example, having what the compounds would look like, having arrows to show which direction it
goes in, and the product of the whole process can help visual learners understand without having
to read the text and still be confused. Perhaps with Moore, she would read the text and be
confused with the syntax. With pictures of a model or diagram it would be straight forward with
the information.
Finally, what would visual literacy be in the 21st century if it were not for the internet and
its product the meme? Lyndsey Noftz in Memes: An Unexpected Literacy, she shared her
experience being on the internet and discovering more and more of a meme of a parrot. However,
she did not know what it was or understand why it is so popular on the internet. She went on to
mention that her parents were avid readers, and before Noftz began school, her parents forced
her to read herself to sleep. Literacy came natural to her since her parents held it to the up-most
important. However, not going on the internet as often, she would not become online literate. She

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did not understand the meaning of the parrot and why it would day hear car door slam in middle
of night then would it would read at the bottom car thieves. To most people that are active on
the internet they would have understood because coming from a generation where access to the
internet was easy, it would come natural or easier to understand. Although Noftz is from the
same generation, it seemed like her parents would limit her time on the computer so she can
focus on reading.
However, limiting access to the internet in todays society can have a defect since almost
everything we do is on the computer. It can cause a lack of online communication understanding.
Memes are a way for people to connect to one another because it shares either a common interest
or common reaction. For example, the parrot meme Noftz mentioned had a phrase at the top and
only a couple of words at the bottom with a parrot looking puzzled in the middle. This meme is a
common reaction to whenever someone is home alone, and they hear a noise outside. Hearing
the noise causes them to get scared and probably freeze in place because you are too scared to
move. People would constantly be on the internet would understand the visuals of the meme. The
first time memes appeared on the internet there were only a couple of them, but people started to
understand and catch on to the visual comedy and started creating more and more witty memes.
There is also a website that can help you generate a meme with what you would like to say.
People explore literacies in different ways, and sometimes do not get recognized for it.
People do not think visual literacy is a type of literacy because of what teachers, parents and
even friends own definition of literacy is. Before coming into Literacy and Technology, my
definition of literacy was the ability of reading and writing, and understanding what is being
said. Literacy would be something that a person understands how to do, for example, Facebook
literate, soccer literate, computer engineering literate, and even communication literate. Visuals

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are a part of our everyday lives since before we were even born starting back at the caveman
days. Advertising, television shows, movies, posters, and art, just to name a few, are all visual
literacies that people come across in their lives, but do not even recognize it whether they are
literate or not. These narratives contained people that were highly visual, yet in school professors
and teachers use one style of learning. How can the educational system help visual learners
express their creativity and learning skill in a class that is mostly text? What about the
standardize test and finals that students, like Kristen Moore who learns better visual, are forced
to take?

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Works Cited
Eilks, Ingo, Torsten Witteck, and Verena Pietzner. "A Critical Discussion Of The Efficacy Of
Using Visual Learning Aids From The Internet To Promote Understanding, Illustrated
With Examples Explaining The Daniell Voltaic Cell." EURASIA Journal Of
Mathematics, Science & Technology Education 5.2 (2009): 145-152. ERIC. Web. 26 Feb.
2016.
Lawson, Daniel. Comic Literacy DALN. 21 March 2014.
Mehler, Josh. Visual Influences on My Literacy DALN. 9 November 2013.
Moore, Krisen. Mapping Literacies DALN. 19 March 2015.
Noftz, Lyndsey. "Memes: An Unexpected Literacy." DALN, 17 April 2012.
Walsh, Christopher1. "Systems-Based Literacy Practices: Digital Games Research,
Gameplay And
Design." Australian Journal Of Language & Literacy 33.1 (2010): 24-40.
Education Source. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.